Daniel Heidkamp’s Beautiful, Peaceful Paintings of Central Park

Artist Daniel Heidkamp currently has a new solo show on at White Columns in New York and I just love the colors in his work. A native of New York, Heidkamp’s exhibition consists of recent oil paintings that depict the city’s Metropolitan Museum of Art as seen from the grounds of Central Park. Bursting with brightly colored foliage and trees, Heidkamp’s work really captures the beauty of the area.

The majority of the work was painted on location and Heidkamp’s work gets the energy of these scenes just right. “When painting en plein air I feel the atmosphere on my skin” Heidkamp says, “[…] there is an adrenaline feeling that happens while working ‘live’ and that energy can translate directly into the painting”.

While many of his contemporaries may explore far-less traditional methods of art-making, I feel there’s something special in Heidkamp’s interrogation and exploration of representational painting. Following in the footprints of people like Hopper, Hockney, and Doig; Heidkamp’s focus on ordinary and everyday scenes is as engaging as it is compelling.